Our View: Schools not served with Lang as a backseat driver

Sunday

Jan 26, 2014 at 12:01 AM

After more than two years of clear, systematic progress in reforming a school system that fails half its high school students year after year, politics is trying to bully its way back into the process, threatening to undermine and reverse the good that has been done and stall future efforts.

After more than two years of clear, systematic progress in reforming a school system that fails half its high school students year after year, politics is trying to bully its way back into the process, threatening to undermine and reverse the good that has been done and stall future efforts.

Former Mayor Scott Lang's recent public foray into the New Bedford Public Schools' turnaround saga recalls the political antics that for years have distracted teachers and administrators from their work. Likewise, it distracts the public, until everyone is worked up about this side or that instead of being concerned with properly and effectively educating children.

Lang, who spent six years as mayor, spoke a week ago Friday to the New Bedford Educators Association when the teachers held their union rally on the steps of City Hall, and he weighed in on the editorial pages this past Thursday.

He has every right to speak his mind, both as a private citizen and as a popular former mayor with a measure of authority and success in city government. But his credentials on education are questionable, judging by his record while in office. Attempting to eliminate the state's standardized test as a graduation requirement was an ill-advised approach to getting high school diplomas to more New Bedford students. Even if adopted statewide, it would have had no effect on narrowing achievement gaps, which is the real issue. Had it been adopted locally, it would have been a stigma for New Bedford graduates, including those who could pass the test to the state's satisfaction. Instead, he put the city at odds with the state.

Similarly, a less-than-thorough superintendent search process produced Portia Bonner, who may have been a poor fit for New Bedford, but neither was she allowed to do her job in the chaos that ensued. The day her tenure ended, Lang engineered the hiring of successor Mary Louise Francis, whose leadership — at least in the eyes of a state education department mulling receivership for the entire school department — was uninspiring. Buying out her multiyear contract cost the city $200,000.

The school system's drive toward meeting state standards floundered during Lang's administration. Administration under Bonner was chaotic, and under Francis stagnant.

Mayor Jon Mitchell has been twice elected on a platform that promised dramatic improvement in New Bedford Public Schools. His unopposed second run came after two years of unambiguous leadership on education: stable administration, fiscal house-cleaning, effective and rigorous superintendent selection, and steady support from state education officials.

The distraction created by Lang is unfair to Mitchell, Superintendent Pia Durkin, teachers, students and New Bedford, and we would urge him to heed his own counsel to listen to all stakeholders.

His accusations of "vilifying New Bedford's teachers" neglect the outreach done by Mitchell and Durkin, and perpetuate a harmful image of divisiveness that serves no one well, especially teachers and children.

Rather, the divisiveness has come mostly from the leaders of teachers union, which has chosen to ignore and exclude the voices calling for cooperation. Lang's decision to endorse the NBEA message has been a mistake, and it is our hope that he would recognize it and respond by pulling in the same direction as Mitchell, the School Committee and Durkin.